


All The Greatest Loves (are the unfinished ones)

by LesserDisaster



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Alternate Universe - Bar/Pub, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-30
Updated: 2015-05-30
Packaged: 2018-04-01 22:41:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4037269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LesserDisaster/pseuds/LesserDisaster
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis was absolutely going to blame Zayn for this. It's his fault she had to work that night, so it's his fault she's hopelessly in love with the girl who is never going to love her back.</p>
<p>Just a story about pining, jumping to conclusions, and looking for your happy ending.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All The Greatest Loves (are the unfinished ones)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [temerity (forsanethaec)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/forsanethaec/gifts).



> The prompt was basically that Niall performs every friday night at louis’ favorite pub and louis falls in love. You also said I could genderswap whatever, so I ran with that. I made a few tiny tweaks, but I hope you still like it! 
> 
> Niall and Louis are girls in this, the rest of the band are boys.
> 
> Title from _Don’t Send The Searchlights_ by Gold Motel

“What are you doing here?”  
  
Louis knew as soon as she walked into work that night, that it was going to be a big deal, she’d worked on Friday exactly zero times since she started working at the pub.  
  
“Excuse you, Liam, it’s not a big deal.”  
  
“Not a big deal? It’s Friday and you’re working. It is Friday, right? Oh my god, does this mean I’ve ruined half of the orders today?”  
  
“Calm down Payno, it is Friday. We already discussed it. Zayn’s mum is coming to visit so I was a good friend and traded so he could have today off.”  
  
“What’d you trade? Sexual favors? Or well, I guess you’re not into that.”  
  
“First of all, rude, I would never offer sex for something as trivial as this job. Second, I’m bi, and I also have eyes, so even though he’s one of my best friends, if he was interested I absolutely would get on that.”  
  
Liam rolled his eyes and tossed Louis a notepad.  
  
“Just go take some orders.”

\----

After almost an hour of putting on her cheery waitress face (studying drama at uni hadn't completely been a waste), Louis was surprised to hear a voice drifting over from the stage that didn’t sound like glorified karaoke like most of the people at open mic night. She looked up and froze in place, there was a blond girl in a snapback with a guitar, singing what she thought was a Bruno Mars song, and Louis fell in love right then and there. As soon as she snapped out of it, she took off to Liam’s office.

\----

“Liam! We have an emergency!”  
  
The door burst open in no time, and Liam almost tripped over the threshold.  
  
“What? What’s going on?”  
  
“You know, as a manager, you should probably not panic over every little thing”  
  
“You said it was an emergency! What is it?”  
  
“I’m already planning my wedding to the girl who was just singing and I need to know who she is, and if she’s single or even likes girls.”  
  
“Just a second, let me get out my questionnaire where I asked invasive personal questions of the people coming for open mic night.”  
  
“Of all the times for my sarcasm to rub off on you, it has to be now.” She muttered. “Whatever, I’m taking my break now to go talk to her.”  
  
“You’ve only been here an hour! It’s not time for your break!”  
  
“Oh well.”

\----

“Come on Louis, you’re not this much of a wimp, just go talk to her.” She had to give herself a 10 minute pep talk before even attempting to introduce herself to this girl.  
  
“You’re really good.” Louis mentally rolled her eyes at herself, that was the best compliment she could come up with?  
  
“Thanks, I’m glad you liked it, I was trying-”  
  
The girl was cut off by, what Louis could only describe as a curly-haired giant, grabbing her around the waist.  
  
“Niall, you were so good!”  
  
“Oh my god, Harry, calm down! And don’t be rude.”  
  
“Sorry, I just got excited.” He set her back down and turned to Louis. “You admiring our Nialler here?”  
  
“What can I say, she’s good.”  
  
Harry practically started jumping up and down at that. “See! I told you I wasn’t just biased because I love you, you _are_ good!”  
  
And well, okay. Apparently Louis didn’t have any chance with her newest crush.  
  
“So, it's Niall, right? Well, I just wanted to say you sounded much better than everyone else here tonight.”  
  
Niall blushed and nervously laughed, and Louis didn’t even care that she seemed to have no chance, she wanted to make Niall react that way all the time.  
  
“You work here though, right? Are you new?” Harry interjected.  
  
“No, I just never usually work on Friday. Which I’m regretting now, I’m missing out on cute, talented Irish girls.”  
  
“Stop it.”  
  
“It’s true!”  
  
“Well, thanks again, but I have a bus to catch so I should probably get going.”  
  
“I need to get back to work too, hopefully I’ll see you around?”  
  
“I’m here every Friday so you know where to find me.” Niall then turned to give Harry a hug and quick peck on the cheek, “See you tomorrow morning?”  
  
“As usual.”  
  
Louis turned around and rushed back to work because she really did not want to see that, she’d rather just pretend she still had a chance.

\----

As it turned out, Zayn needed little-to-no convincing to permanently trade his Friday night shift with Louis’ normal Sunday.  
  
“Why wouldn’t I? Friday night is super busy and it’ll be nice to not be so stressed. And I can tease you about your dumb crush now.”  
  
“Fuck off.”  
  
“Shut up! Did you forget that my mum is right in the other room?”  
  
“Like she cares, but fine, I’ll stop swearing if you get me another beer.”  
  
“Get it yourself.”  
  
“I’m sorry if I want the most attractive, _and_ all-around best, waiter ever to bring me my drink.” She batted her eyes at him, because if Louis was anything, she was a flirt if it would let her be lazy, like staying sprawled out on the floor like she was currently  
  
“Your flattery does not work on me.” His protests were pretty much useless as he got up from his spot on the couch.  
  
“Says the guy who just got up to go to the fridge.”  
  
“I’m doing this from the kindness of my heart, not because you said I was attractive.”  
  
“Okay yep, keep telling yourself that Malik, and I’ll sit here knowing that you’re a big pushover.”  
  
“At least I’m not as big of a pushover as Liam, if I was in charge, you’d have been fired a long time ago.”  
  
“God, how is he even manager anyway, he’s younger than both of us! Why does he get to tell us what to do?”  
  
“Because he’s a nerd who actually has a degree in restaurant management, and we’re too lazy to even think about the responsibility of running a business.”  
  
“Okay, that’s true.”

\----

“Louis, how do you feel about zoos?”  
  
That was not at all what Louis was expecting Niall to say first thing the next Friday. “They’re okay, I guess, why?”  
  
“I had plans to go, but Harry has some weird aversion to them, so would you want to go with me tomorrow?”  
  
“Yeah, that sounds like fun.” A chance to go on an almost-date with Niall? Like Louis would even think of turning that down.

\----

“Harry is definitely missing out.”  
  
“On what? Overpriced food and sunburns?”  
  
“Hey, that is not my fault, I told you to bring sunscreen.”  
  
“Well you just haven’t learned that my autobiography would be titled ‘Cute but Irresponsible’”  
  
“You can’t be that irresponsible since you always make sure to take your break at the right time that you can watch me.”  
  
“So you noticed that.” Louis couldn’t help the blush that came up on her cheeks, luckily they were already red from the heat no one would ever know.  
  
“Trust me, I notice everything.”  
  
“Really? So you notice this too?” And with that, she dumped the last few ice cubes in her cup over Niall’s head.  
  
“Oh my God! You’re horrible!”  
  
“Don’t question my ability to prank you.”  
  
“This was not a prank, this was just you taking advantage of me being distracted.”  
  
As Niall pulled off her snapback to get the water off, Louis was struck by just how much she wished this girl, who wore stupid hats all the time and was so easy to distract and tease, could actually be more than just a friend.  
  
“Whatcha thinking about?”  
  
“Nothing.”  
  
“If you say so. Oh! Penguins! Let’s go.”  
  
With that, Louis was dragged out of her thoughts, and literally dragged to the next exhibit.

\----

Over the next couple of weeks, Louis and Niall spent most weekends on ‘friend dates’ a lot of times with Harry tagging along, which Louis wasn’t completely happy about, but she wasn’t going to be rude about it. They had been to restaurants where no one could pronounce anything on the menu, or art exhibits that Louis did not understand at all, and she even invited them over to her and Zayn’s flat, so they could actually meet him outside the pub. They of course all got along great because, not to brag, but Louis liked to think she was great at picking her friends.  
  
“Oh god, it’s already 2 in the morning? I think it’s time for us to go Harry.”  
  
“Nooo, I don’t wanna.” They’d all only had a few beers each, but Harry seemed to be a bit of a lightweight.  
  
“Come on babe, you need to get home.”  
  
“But now I can’t make pancakes for them in the morning.”  
  
“Oh Jesus, Harry, you’re not going to make Louis and Zayn pancakes, they’ll be fine without them.”  
  
“Tonight was fun, see you Friday?”  
  
“Yep, have fun getting him home.”  
  
“I have plenty of years of practice, we’ll make it fine.”  
  
As the door was shutting, Louis heard Harry mumble something about pancakes again.  
  
“Harry, you can make us pancakes next time!” She yelled through the door  
  
“Awesome. I used to work at a bakery, you know.”  
  
Louis tried, and failed, to hold back her laughter. “Pretty sure most bakeries don’t sell pancakes, but thanks for the info!”  
  
She could hear Niall and Harry arguing the whole way back to the elevator.  
  
“Oh my god, everyone in the world knows you work at a bakery at this point. You’re so embarrassing.”

\----

It took two days for Louis to pick up the beer bottles they’d left strewn around the living room, and realize that Niall left her phone. She turned it on, and amazingly there was no passcode or anything.  
  
“Niall you are an idiot. It’s helpful, but wow, dumb.”  
  
She scrolled through the contacts, and figured Harry would be the most likely to be with Niall. At the very least, he was the only name she knew among the seemingly thousands of numbers Niall seemed to have in her phone.  
  
“Who is this and why do you have Niall’s phone?”  
  
“It’s Louis, she left her phone when you guys were here. Do you know if she’s home so I can give it to her?”  
  
“Yeah, she’s home.”  
  
“Okay good, um- can you give me her address?”  
  
Harry rattled off the address and Louis could feel herself getting annoyed at the fact that Harry knew it right off the top of his head. Which, okay, she really needs to get this crush thing under control.

\----

She was beginning to think Harry didn’t actually know if Niall was home, because she felt like she had been knocking forever. Except, she kind of wished no one had heard her because the door finally opened, and there was Harry, wearing almost nothing.  
  
“Jesus Christ.”  
  
“Not quite, but thanks for the compliment.”  
  
“Do you always answer the door nearly naked? Wait, you don’t even live here, you do this everywhere or is Niall special?”  
  
“She _is_ special, but also, trousers are so restricting. If I can take them off, I will.”  
  
“You’re kind of weird, has anyone told you that? And- is that a butterfly?”  
  
He just pouted at her, which made Louis think of a sad puppy, a tall, attractive puppy, but a puppy nonetheless. “It’s a moth! Niall makes fun of my tattoos enough, I don’t need you to do it too. Ugh, so do you have her phone or not?”  
  
“Yeah, is she here?”  
  
“She’s still in bed, but I’ll make sure she gets it. Cheers!”  
  
“Um, okay, thanks. I’ll see you around.”  
  
It took all of Louis’ strength to not just take off running back to her car. She didn’t want to be too overdramatic. She just texted Zayn ***SOS get home asap to comfort me***  
  
It was one thing to just assume Niall and Harry were in a relationship, and another completely to know they had probably just had sex. And that meant Harry probably answered his phone in the middle of it. Which is what Louis chose to focus on, and be horrified by, to get home and not just drive to the middle of nowhere to cry forever.

\----

“I’m assume this is something to do with Niall since you’ve been crying for fifteen minutes straight, right after coming back from her place. What happened?”  
  
“Harry answered the door almost completely naked.”  
  
Zayn just burst out laughing and the look Louis gave him was murderous. “Sorry babe, but why did that make you cry?”  
  
“Because he also said that Niall was in bed, which obviously means they just had sex, which also means Harry answered my call in the middle of it, which is enough to make me cry too.”  
  
“Are you absolutely sure? I mean, maybe it’s just hot in their flat?”  
  
“It’s just Niall’s, Harry doesn’t even live there.”  
  
“Oh… okay well, I can’t think of many reasons you’d strip down in someone else’s place.”  
  
“He claimed his clothes were restrictive, but that sounds like what you’d say when you don’t want to tell someone you just finished having sex.”  
  
Louis liked to think she wasn’t much of a crier, but her brain seemed to not get that memo when it came to Niall. All she wanted was a cute girl who could play the guitar, was that really too much to ask?

\----

Over the next few weeks, Louis got very good at pretending to ignore Niall when she tried to get Louis’ attention. She wasn’t quite as good at pretending to ignore the feeling she got when she saw Niall’s face fall every time. 

\----

She had memorized Niall’s schedule, knew which bus and what time she left, so she always timed her smoke break to last until Niall would be gone. Which is why she about had a heart attack when she walked back in the restaurant to find Niall waiting for her.  
  
“It’s been too long and I’m not putting up with it anymore. You haven’t even looked at me since I left my phone at your place. What did I do?”  
  
“Nothing, I promise, it’s just me being stupid. It’s just that Harry-”  
  
“Oh god, his dick traumatized you that bad when you dropped off my phone? I swear I will never ever let him answer the door again.”  
  
“No, it’s not like that, it’s probably very nice. Especially for someone like you, who likes it”  
  
“What are you talking about? He’s my best friend, but I don’t love his dick.” She scrubbed her hand over her face. “I cannot believe we’re talking about this oh my god.”  
  
“You’re not together?”  
  
“No! Where’d you get that idea?”  
  
“Well, that time I told you I thought you were a good singer, you seemed very couple-y. And come on, he answered your door, in just his underpants, took your phone and said, and i quote, ‘she’s still in bed, but i’ll make sure she gets it, cheers!’ What was I supposed to think?”  
  
“He told you I was still in bed? Jesus, no wonder you got the wrong idea.”  
  
“Why was he almost naked though? He doesn’t even live with you.”  
  
“If he wouldn’t get arrested for it, I’m pretty sure he’d go around naked all the time. That’s just how he is. You know he considers you his friend when he takes off his trousers at your place.”  
  
“No offense, but your best friend is a fucking weirdo.”  
  
Niall just laughed, “Trust me, no one knows that more than I do. But before I realized how he was, we were already friends and it was too late. But back on topic, why didn’t you just ask me? Zayn mentioned you once, and I asked if you were his girlfriend and he acted like it was the most ridiculous thing anyone had ever said. Like, you could have asked me if Harry was dating me, I would’ve have just said ‘fuck no’ and we could’ve not spent so long upset at each other.”  
  
Louis just started laughing and didn’t think she could stop if she wanted to. Niall and Harry weren’t together, maybe she actually did have a chance.  
  
“Hey,” Niall reached over for Louis’ face “You’re kind of an idiot, but you’re cute and I’m gonna kiss you now, if that’s okay.”  
  
All Louis could do was nod. And if anyone asked her in the future, what it was like to kiss Niall for the first time, she honestly couldn't say. Her brain was too busy just screaming 'I'm kissing Niall!' and she really got nothing out of it. (Not that she would ever in a million years admit it. She could just spend the rest of her life lying and telling Niall that it was amazing.) 

\----

“Some of you may recognize my duet partner as your usual waitress, but she’s also my girlfriend, so you’ll just have to wait a few minutes so she can sing this new song with me.”  
  
“This song is called Don’t Forget Where You Belong, because as Harry likes to say, we’re big sappy idiots, so hopefully this isn’t cheesy enough to make you vomit.”  
  
“Louis, don’t ruin the moment!”  
  
“I’m not ruining it, I’m just giving our audience time to prepare themselves.”  
  
Niall just rolled her eyes and started playing, and if Louis was too busy staring at her with ‘heart eyes’ as Harry said, and missed her cue, well, no one else had to know.


End file.
